The Order: 1886 – One Week To Go

As a gamer who has really enjoyed the Xbox One exclusives that I’ve played over the past 16 months (I know, time flies when you’re having fun!), The Order: 1886 will represent my first folly into PlayStation exclusives on their release date (I’m not counting playing The Last of Us, it was already out on PS3 and I didn’t play it when it first came out on PS4, so yeah). The Order will see us jump into the role of Galahad, well, the latest in the line to bear Galahad’s name. For those who don’t know, the first Galahad, whose gallantry could not be matched by anyone, was a member of King Arthur’s Round Table and son of Sir Lancelot, as well as one of the three people to ‘achieve’ the Holy Grail. Our role with him, however, I’m sure will be slightly different.

With it’s release now stapled in for the 20th February, only a week now remains until it hits our shelves. The Order is published by Sony Entertainment and developed by Ready At Dawn, which has primarily focused on Sony titles (the exception being Okami, for the Wii in 2008), and its biggest intellectual property is the God Of War franchise. The Order: 1886 is its first release in nearly 4 years, so a lot rides on the success of Ready At Dawn’s newest franchise…

So what do we know so far:

The Setting

We know that this game is going to be set in Victorian London, in an alternate, almost dystopian, future. 1886 is the year where you come in to the fray and join the conflict. Somewhere around the beginning of the Dark Ages, the alternate history begins when some humans develop animal traits and turn into what looks like Werewolves in the trailer. The war that broke out takes it’s toll and the “Halfbreeds” stay on top until King Arthur and his Knights find the ‘Black Water’ which gives them longer life and revitalising abilities. However, another video, of 15 minutes worth of gameplay and B rolls shows that we will also face off against Humans (at least when on the zeppelin), which are under the command of what sounds like Lucan (helping the Werewolf name a bit stronger) and classed as Rebels. The industrial revolution that occurs slightly earlier than in actual history explains the advanced weaponry in the game, as well as the aforementioned zeppelin!

Modes + Gameplay

The Order is only single-player; which I think should mean the story will be strong enough to play on it’s own and long enough to not require any additional modes. Unfortunately, most of what’s been shown is quite limited in scope; perhaps to not spoil too much ahead of release, which is understandable… however, most of the dislike towards this game at the moment is due to it having quite a few cutscenes in comparison to most games. This could be just down to the clips being released are done to showcase how the game looks and these cinematic cutscene sequences do look pretty amazing. Some say these extensive cutscenes almost make The Order look like a interactive story instead of a game; to these, I say let’s wait and see how it plays out upon release.

Other criticisms include it looking and playing out slightly like Gears of War, due to some movement and the way the guns shoot, yet the problem with this is that most ways have already been done before. Gears of War was so successful because people enjoyed that way of playing and so this shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a criticism in my opinion (even though it’s meant to be). ‘The gameplay looks very linear’ I’ve heard too, which I can see being perhaps the case. This is a worry for me too, but then again, it amazes me that people still play Assassin’s Creed games, so what do I know about linear! From the parts I saw, additional stuff like slowing down time and picking locks and the sneak vs full-out badass conundrum will hopefully give the gameplay all it needs to stay fresh.

Are you getting The Order:1886? Not sure? Discuss!

Mike G

The wait and see approach is the best approach, however The Order 1886 has recieved undue criticism from the gaming press and fanboys alike. Since when is having a linear story a bad thing? Uncharted, TLOU, Bioshock, Dead Spae etc etc lots of great games have had linear stories. Heck even the almighty Grand Theft Auto V has a linear story. So what exactly is the problem here? Haters will always hate though.

Mike G

The wait and see approach is the best approach, however The Order 1886 has recieved undue criticism from the gaming press and fanboys alike. Since when is having a linear story a bad thing? Uncharted, TLOU, Bioshock, Dead Spae etc etc lots of great games have had linear stories. Heck even the almighty Grand Theft Auto V has a linear story. So what exactly is the problem here? Haters will always hate though.